Harold and Kumar star, Kal Penn visits Wilberforce University to stump for Obama

Actor Kal Penn, best known for starring in the Harold and Kumar movies, visited with students and local Obama for America-Ohio supporters Thursday afternoon at Wilberforce University.

Penn, who actually is considered the president's ambassador to young voters, discussed with the nearly 80 students and Obama supporters gathered in the student union, the choice they have to make in November's election between what he called, "two fundamentally different visions of how to grow the economy while investing in more affordable, higher education."

"The reason to come to Wilberforce is the same as any other university. The president believes that every young American should have a fair shot at a higher education if that is the path they choose. Making sure they can compete for jobs and for innovation, bringing jobs back here that have been outsourced to India and China. That is a huge priority," Penn said. "We had a nice conversation with young people about that today. Wilberforce is unique in that it had 100 percent voter registration in 2008 we would like to see that happen again if for another reason then the fact that, and the president talks about this a lot less democracy has never made us stronger, it's that when people vote and actually take the initiative we can rationally talk about issues and come up with the right compromises and things like that we are hoping to show the president successes today, talking about how he has made college more affordable, giving folks access to healthcare, brought our folks home from Iraq and we believe that is what is going to continue to move the country forward in a second term."

Kal Penn with Obama supporters at Wilberforce University

Credit Wayne Baker

Donald Brooks, a junior at Wilberforce, said it meant a lot to the student body to have Penn stop by and talk about the Obama campaign. Specifically what the president can do to help the younger generation in the topics of the economy, education and healthcare.

"I think President Obama in regards to his views, he understands what it is like to be on both sides of the stick," Brooks said. "He comes from a single parent household and he knows what it feels like to mobilize due to hard work and he knows how vital education is to it. I don't feel Romney has the same views. I don't think he knows what it is like to be on both sides of the stick. To understand the poverty area and to understand what it takes to mobilize to the top."